Meeting: Committee (2011-12-18)

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Meeting closed at 17:57
Meeting closed at 17:57


[[Category:2011 committee meetings]]
[[Category:2011 Committee meetings]]
[[Category:2011–2012 Committee]]
[[Category:2011–2012 Committee]]

Latest revision as of 09:14, 3 December 2017

The meeting began at 15:10 hours (AEDST) on #wmau-comm (irc://irc.freenode.net/wmau-comm)


Attendance

  • Attendance: John (Chair), Anne (Minutes), Charles, Craig (16:00), Graham, Laura
  • Apologies: Nil
  • Absence: Nil

John noted we had a quorum and linked to the committee meeting Agenda.

Minutes

Motion: That the Minutes of the November committee meeting be accepted.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Laura
  • Support: Graham, Anne, Charles.

Carried without dissent [Log: 15:13]

Reports

State Library of Queensland report

John organised a Wikipedia training workshop at the State Library of Queensland on December 9. More than ten people attended and received training on creating articles on Wikipedia. The training session was assisted by User:Shiftchange.

Further reading on the workshop and the topics chosen for articles can be found at the following links.

Motion: That WMAU reimburse User:Shiftchange's expenses related to the State Library of Queensland workshop held on December 9.

  • Moved: Laura
  • Seconded: John
  • Support: Anne, Graham, Charles

Carried without dissent [Log: 15:27]

GLAM Camp Amsterdam report

Laura was sponsored by WMF to attend the GLAM Camp in Amsterdam. A report was included in the GLAM newsletter.

Motion: That Wikimedia Australia thanks the Wikimedia Foundation for funding Laura's attendance at the GLAM Camp, Amsterdam, and extends its thanks to WMUK, WMNL and WMDE for their participation and kindness.

  • Moved: Laura
  • Seconded: John
  • Support: Graham, Anne, Charles

Carried without dissent [Log 15:38]

AdaCamp Melbourne

AdaCamp Melbourne is to be held on 14 January 2012 is in full swing and the organising committee are sending out invitations to attend. Both Laura and Anne have received invitations to attend. To-date applications for the inaugural AdaCamp have been received from Australia, the UK, the USA, and New Zealand. Mary Gardiner of AdaInitiative advised the launch of the website at the beginning of December, pointing out that sponsor logos are displayed in the sidebar. Mary thanked the WMAU committee for their crucial support of the event.

http://adainitiative.org/what-we-do/events/adacamp-mel-2012/

See Minutes for November meeting: wmau:Meeting:Committee (2011-11-20)#Ada Camp Melbourne

WikiWomenCamp and WM-AR GenderGap conference

At this point in the meeting the Chair brought this item forward on the Agenda for discussion.

Background provided by Laura: The first conference, WikiWomenCamp, is a three day women and transgendered wiki conference to be held on 23, 24 and 25 May 2012, facilitated by Anne Goldenberg, and using open-space in English and Spanish, with Wikimedia Argentina as the formal hosts.

It was conceptualised at GLAM Camp Amsterdam. Early organisers include women affiliated with Wikimedia Argentina, Wikimedia Australia, Wikimedia Espana, Wikimedia India, Wikimedia Israel, Wilimedia Portugal and Wikimedia UK.

The event will be open to all women involved with the Wikimedia movement, and with wikis in general including commercial, non-profit and educational wikis.

A second conference, WM-AR GenderGap, follows immediately after WWCamp and is a two day conference examining the gender gap in the wiki movement. It's primarily organised by Wikimedia Argentina and this too will be facilitated in English and Spanish.

The conferences are being organised by many women from many Chapters.

After discussing the various requirements and needs of the conferences, the meeting resolved that Wikimedia Australia support in principle the WikiWomenCamp and the WMAR GenderGap conferences being organised for May 2012 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for women in the Wikimedia movement.

Motion: That Wikimedia re-allocate $10,000 of the budget from Wikimania to the WikiWomenCamp being planned for May 2012. At least 50% of the funds will be used for travel grants. Usage of the remaining funds will be determined after consultation with WMAR.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Charles
  • Support: Graham, Laura, Anne

Carried without dissent [Log 15:55]


At this point Craig joined the meeting [Log: 16:00]

RecentChangesCamp

The committee has received several applications. Funds are to be disbursed on the basis of reimbursement (with an invoice), or by purchasing plane tickets/accommodation ourselves and providing it to grantees.

Motion: That all applications received to date from Australia and New Zealand residents are approved; however Wikimedia Australia will book and pay for accommodation, and WMAU will only disburse funds on the basis of reimbursement for invoices sent to the treasurer.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Craig
  • Support: Laura, Graham, Anne, Charles

Carried without dissent

Motion: That the application from Tanvir Rahman for an RCC grant be approved, subject to the applicant securing a WMF participation grant to cover his airfare.

  • Moved: Craig
  • Seconded: John
  • Support: Laura, Anne, Graham, Charles

Carried without dissent

Membership Report

Membership Status - Current: 49

Five new applications were received since the last report.

Non-Member Account approvals:

One approved this month; five rejected as spam; and one on hold pending bio.

End Date for Applications - Calendar year or end of financial year

The meeting discussed some difficulties periodically arising out of the present policy where membership renewals fall due on the first day after the end of the financial year and discussed the possible merits of the yearly membership expiring at the end of the calendar year. Further discussion took place about the several categories of member status on the database which prior to the rationalisation of the database system in September resulted in anomalies in the membership count.

Discussed were three members whose end of membership dates are December 31, 2011 and January 31, 2012 respectively. The meeting proposed extending the membership expiry date for these members to June 30 2012 to bring them into line with everyone else and notify them of the change. The motion on this matter was deferred until further information is obtained.

The meeting discussed making changes to the annual subscription period for members, and the various possibilities, i.e. eighteen months for first the first fees received; the calendar timetable; or twelve months from the date of payment. The current practice is that new members in December 2011 are considered paid until the end of June 2013. The committee favoured a clearly defined 'renewal period' where discounts can be applied. The matter has been raised at two public meetings, but it was considered that consensus had not been reached.

Suggestions included using the electionbuddy voting system to make it as easy as possible; with potential options listed.

Membership fees:

The cost of membership fees was discussed at the last two monthly public meetings. While the current fees are comparable to other chapters such as WMDE, comments from members and non-members alike were all supporting a reduction in membership fees.

One member requested that the committee ensures that funds obtained from membership fees continue to cover the organisations administrative costs.

The consensus was that membership fees should be halved.

Motion: That Wikimedia Australia membership fees will be $20 per annum effective immediately for all new members and effective for 2012-2013 fees for existing or lapsed members with a 50% reduction for concession holders.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Graham
  • Support: Craig, Laura, Anne, Charles

Carried without dissent

International members:

The committee has been considering various options to support the growth of chapters in our region. Wikimedia Australia sees the potential to act as an umbrella organisation for overseas members of our community to come together.

Motion: Recognising that the WMAU scope has many elements that are restricted to Australia and therefore do not directly benefit international members, the membership dues for residents of Pacific islands without an established chapter is set at AUD$10 per annum, with a 50% reduction for concession holders.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Laura
  • Support: Charles, Craig, Anne, Graham

Carried without dissent

Incoming Correspondence Report

Item deferred due to meeting time constraints.

Finance Report

The update to the bank signatories has progressed since the last meeting. The current signatories are Craig, Anne, and Graham. Adam and Brian have been removed as signatories. We are still waiting on Charles to complete the necessary paperwork, but we can now proceed with business as usual. Craig spoke on the phone with Bendigo Bank on Friday afternoon regarding a payment token for Graham.

Craig has been investigating the online accounting package Xero, which provides a bookkeeping solution for the chapter. It is also used by Linux Australia. Xero provides functionality to export all data in case Wikimedia Australia decides to stop using Xero.

Xero only accepts payment online with a credit card. There have been a few other expenses which were only payable online via credit card. Craig investigated our options.

Motion: That Wikimedia Australia will open a new bank account at the Bendigo Bank, and attach a "Business Blue Debit MasterCard" to it. This account will have an overdraft limit of $0. The debit mastercard has a monthly fee of $3. This will be used solely for payments of goods and services approved in advance by resolution of the committee.

  • Moved: Craig
  • Seconded: John
  • Support: Graham, Anne, Charles, Laura

Carried without dissent


Motion: That Wikimedia Australia will pay $599.40 (at $49.95/month) to use Xero for 2012. The money will be paid via the debit mastercard.

  • Moved: Craig
  • Seconded: Graham
  • Support: Laura, Anne, John, Charles

Carried without dissent

WMF Chapter's Grant Agreement

WMAU's pro-bono legal advisor reviewed the WMF Chapter's Grant agreement for WMAU. Craig informed the meeting that the advisor has advised that the terms and conditions were in order and ones that he would expect in this type of an agreement. Further that he specifically drew WMAU's attention to clause 6.5 of the agreement.

Consumer Affairs Victoria report

On 30 November WMAU applied to Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) for acceptance of our Rules of Association changes (AGM October 9, 2011) and simultaneously advised CAV of the retirement of Brian as Public Officer and advised of a handover to Anne. The appropriate form, advising the name of the new public officer and listing the registered address as Monbulk, Victoria, was completed and submitted to CAV. We were advised on 8 December that the 'special resolution(s)' to alter our Rules of Association had been approved and became effective from 2 December 2011.

CAV require a 'WMAU annual statement' with details on our audited financial statements. CAV also require the Annual Return by Fundraiser due on 31 January 2012.

On fundraising - NSW registration runs to mid-2012 but will need renewing at that time.

On police checks - Brian advises that all of the committee members are responsible for fundraising. Police check consent forms will be obtained and need to be signed. John and Craig completed their police checks last year and may not need to repeat the procedure; confirmation will be sought.

The above report was accepted by the committee. [Log: 15:18]

Payments

To be paid

$13.42 to user:Shiftchange, reimbursement for travel costs to Brisbane SLQ academy session
$73.30 to Brian Salter-Duke, reimbursement for CAV fees related to change of rules

A resolution is to be raised to deal with these payments.

Estimated future costs

Bendigo Bank security tokens for Graham and Charles.

Camera equipment program

Several members have indicated that they are actively working on the requirements needed to apply for grants under the Proposal:Camera equipment program. The committee has received its first application for a large equipment grant, which it has favourably reviewed.

(User:Bidgee) large equipment grant application. [1]

Motion: That Bidgee's large equipment grant application (for $1000) is approved.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Laura
  • Support: Graham, Craig, Anne, Charles

Carried without dissent

Proposals

Paralympics 2012 WikiCup

The meeting resolved to put the following motion:

Motion: That Wikimedia Australia will partner with the Australian Paralympic Committee on the 2012 Paralympics Wiki Press Pass Program to send two winners to the 2012 Paralympics in London with a press pass. Wikimedia Australia allocates $7,500 estimated to support one of the winners.

  • Moved: John
  • Second: Anne
  • Support: Graham, Craig, Charles
  • Abstain: Laura

Carried without dissent

General Discussion

ABC Open Project

Craig has been in correspondence with Gnangarra about his ABC Open Project. The current preference from the ABC is for a pilot project of five workshops all in Western Australia. He estimates the expenses for these initial workshops to be $500 for each workshop, for a total of $2500.

Craig advised that he has communicated with Asaf Bartov at the Foundation to canvass the idea of submitting a grant to cover part of the expenditure associated with this program as well as enquiring about reporting requirements and allowances for travel and accommodation. We await Asaf's reply.

Motion: That Wikimedia Australia endorse the ABC Open collaboration being worked on by Gnangarra and make up to $5000 available for the initial set of five workshops in Western Australia.

  • Moved: Craig
  • Seconded: John
  • Support: Laura, Graham, Charles, Anne

Carried without dissent

Voting on Resolutions between Committee Meetings

This resolution establishes the policy on what has otherwise evolved as a custom and practice.

Motion: A matter before the committee may be voted on between committee meetings by the raising of a resolution stating the matter and should

(a) have a vote cast in the normal manner by all members of the committee save for an absence notified to committee

(b) be approved if no less than four committee members vote in support of the resolution

(c) it be opposed by any one committee member the resolution must fail and be brought to the next committee for voting purposes

(d) not exceed five days from the date the resolution was first put otherwise it should lapse and be brought to the next committee meeting for voting purposes.

Motion: That the above resolution on Voting on Resolutions between Committee Meetings be accepted.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Laura
  • Support: Graham, Craig, Anne, Charles

Carried without dissent

Meeting closed

Meeting closed at 17:57

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